Creative Recycling Systems (CRS), an IT asset management and electronics recycling firm headquartered in Tampa, Fla., has announced that its Raleigh, N.C., electronics recycling plant has been certified to the e-Stewards Standard for Responsible Recycling and Reuse of Electronic Equipment, which was developed by the Basel Action Network (BAN), Seattle.

Joe Yob, senior vice president of CRS, says, "We know that in order to live in a sustainable world, leaders have to lead by providing the best solutions. With this philosophy in place, it was clear we needed to qualify for the 'gold standard' and become e-Stewards Certified."

CRS says it has begun work to certify its processing facilities in Tampa; Baltimore; and Allentown, Pa. E-Stewards certification requires that all of a electronic recycling company’s processing facilities be certified to the standard, which also requires ISO 14001 certification.

The company has a total of 13 facilities, which includes collection facilities. CRS also holds R2/RIOS (Responsible Recycling Practices/Recycling Industry Operating Standard), ISO 9001 and OHSAS 18001 certifications at its processing facilities.

Electronics Recycling Asia: Nothing Secondary About It

A Chinese ministry official spells out the importance of secondary materials to the nation’s economic development.

Recyclers all over the world know that China has been a major buyer of secondary materials. China’s Professor Yangzu Wang of the Ministry of Environmental Protection assured an audience of recyclers at the Electronics Recycling Asia conference in November that those materials have been greatly appreciated.

Wang said in the second half of the 20th century, the United States had 5 percent of the world’s population but consumed anywhere from 30 percent to 60 percent of the world’s resources, depending on the particular commodity.

In the new century, China has grown rapidly as a manufacturer and as a consumer of raw materials. “We manufacture the most but only have 50 percent of the raw materials we need,” Wang commented. “We need to import natural gas, copper and so on.”

These two historical factors have come together in the form of the U.S. shipping high volumes of obsolete and scrap materials to China, where they can be used as raw materials.

“In the past 20 years, 360 million tons of recyclable materials have been imported into China,” said Wang, including 180 million tons of scrap paper, 70 million tons of metal and 50 million tons or plastic scrap.

These scrap resources have been critical in many ways, said Wang, “providing jobs to 1 million people and saving 80 percent of the energy” that would have been consumed using primary materials. The scrap resources that have poured into China have provided “positive social, economic and environmental benefits” the Ministry of Environmental Protection official stated.

Wang said China is by no means done importing scrap materials, and may have room to expand its imports in such areas as ferrous scrap for steelmaking. He remarked that Chinese leaders are concerned that China’s steelmakers use scrap as only 14 percent of their steelmaking feedstock, while steelmakers in European and North American nations use from 58 percent to 83 percent scrap. China’s 14 percent rate amounted to 80 million tons of ferrous scrap melted in 2011, according to Wang, who added that China “plans to reach 200 million tons [melted] in the future.”

Among the challenges facing scrap importers are customs regulations differences between the European Union, with 70 different types of scrap materials listed on manifests, and China, where only about 20 types of scrap have approval to enter the country.

Even after all scrap materials have done for China, Wang said there are still “prejudices” in the minds of some people there. “Some people believe importing recyclables is importing garbage, [but] just 0.09 percent in 2011 of shipped materials was not acceptable. It is not importing garbage—this is wrong,” Wang said.

The Electronics Recycling Asia conference, organized by ICM AG, is being held Nov. 13-16 in Guangzhou, China.

Iona Capital Invests in Tire Recycling Project

The U.K.-based private equity firm Iona Capital has completed an investment in a firm called Gradena Ltd., which plans to manufacture wood replacement goods from waste tires and recycled UPVC using a patented process called nano surface intensification.

Gradena is a joint venture company between Gradsol Ltd., a London-based management consulting company that specializes in sustainability and operational consulting, particularly in the waste sector; and Dena Technology Ltd., a U.K.-based company that provides nanotechnology solutions in more than a dozen business development areas, including rubber recycling.

With the financing from Iona in place, Gradena is planning to build a system in the U.K. that will allow it to process around 1,200 metric tons of waste tires in the first year of the project. The company hopes to increase the volume of tires it can process by installing additional production lines.

Iona Capital says that the wood replacement product will be far less susceptible to degradation from adverse conditions such as heat, cold, dampness, wind, insects and UV. At the end of their life cycle Gradena products can be recycled.

Nick Ross, director of Iona Capital, says, “Iona is fully committed to providing funding for the development of environmental projects, which help to achieve the zero waste to landfill target. This project is an excellent example of supporting leading-edge technology and producing value-added products which overcome the growing issue of waste tires.”

Robert Paley, Gradsol’s finance director, says, “This project achieves not only strong financial performance, but also delivers significant environmental benefits. The main selling point of the end products is that they are much more durable than their traditional counterparts and they provide considerable additional commercial benefits. The efficient use of recycled tires and UPVC not only reduces waste volumes; these wastes can be used to produce recyclable, new products. We even expect to have “off-cuts” and “end-of life” recovery programs so that nothing is wasted. The products also reduce reliance on wood and other, non-, or less, sustainable construction products. Gardena’s process is eco-friendly and supports our sustainability initiate.”

CRRA, based in Hartford, Conn., is a quasi-public agency established by the state in 1973 to modernize the state’s solid waste disposal. Its solid waste systems serve 74 Connecticut cities and towns, and it establishes best practices for solid waste disposal and recycling management on behalf of the municipalities it serves.

“This study shows recycling is a vibrant and growing sector of our state’s economy and that CRRA, as Connecticut’s recycling leader, is the cornerstone of that economic sector,” says CRRA President Thomas Kirk.

The recycling industry in Connecticut directly contributes $435 million in sales and provides for more than 2,710 jobs to the state’s economy, according to the study. When related industries are considered, recycling accounts for more than $738 million in total sales and 4,790 jobs per year.

The study also shows in 2012 more than 4,800 people are employed in the recycling industry in the state. In terms of collective employee compensation, proprietors’ incomes, indirect business taxes, profits and other property-type income, the total value measured nearly $470 million, including labor income of more than $275 million and indirect business taxes of nearly $59 million and $134 million estimated in dividends, interest payments, rents and profits.

CERC performed the study using an IMPLAN economic impact analysis input-output model, which explored the total economic impact of the recycling industry at the state level and also the impacts associated with CRRA.

From 2006 through 2012, CRRA’s economic impact was $883 million in total output, 861 jobs per year and $529 million in total value-added, which includes labor income of $362 million. In addition, CRRA, through its recycling processing center in Hartford and satellite transfer stations around the state, operates and accounts for between 30 and 40 percent of the state’s total industry employment, according to the study.

“While these numbers are substantial, they are conservative estimates of the overall impact of all aspects of the recycling activities in Connecticut, which reach well into other industry sectors within the state,” says Alissa DeJonge, CERC director of research.

Based in Rocky Hill, Conn., the Connecticut Economic Resource Center Inc. is a nonprofit corporation and public-private partnership that seeks to provide objective research, marketing and economic development resources consistent with making Connecticut a more competitive business environment.

Krause Manufacturing Launches New Website

Krause Manufacturing, based in Bellingham, Wash., has launched a new website that offers information about material recovery facilities among other recycling equipment that Krause manufactures. The company says the new site will provide enough information to allow customers to make more informed decisions.

“The website was designed in a way to compliment the other divisions of the CP Group of companies to show an integrated and cohesive brand. This site is one of five websites that will have similar design elements to really show relationship between companies,” Ashley Davis, CP Group’s marketing manager, says.

The site includes videos, testimonials and detailed information about recycling equipment, specifically material recovery facilities.

Krause custom engineers and manufactures systems for a range of MRF types, including single stream, municipal solid waste, waste-to-energy, construction and demolition, commercial and industrial, electronic scrap and more.

Krause Manufacturing is a division of the CP Group of companies. For more information, please visit the new site at www.KrauseManufacturing.com.